Sarfaraz Ahmed Removed as Pakistan Test Captain: Reports

According to reports in Pakistan‘s media, current captain across formats, Sarfaraz Ahmed has been axed from the captaincy of Pakistan’s Test team. However, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have reportedly decided the name of the person who will lead the team in the longer format of the game. As per reports by new channel GEO TV, the PCB has named opener Shan Masood as the Test captain after removing Sarfaraz Ahmed.

Shan Masood has played 15 Tests and five ODIs for Pakistan so far while Sarfaraz Ahmed has appeared in 49 Tests, 114 ODIs and 55 T20Is for the national team till date. As per GEO TV, Pakistan’s Test captaincy will be discussed when the PCB’s Cricket Committee will meet in Lahore on August 2.

Pakistan had a not-so-good campaign in the recently concluded ICC World Cup where they finished at the fifth-place of the points table and failed to make it to the semi-finals. After that, the decision of Sarfaraz’s removal from captaincy has been going around. However, under Sarfaraz Ahmed Pakistan registered four wins, eight losses and a draw from 13 matches in Tests.

Although while speaking to reporters after returning from England on July 7, Sarfaraz had said that he had no plans of quitting captaincy. Pakistan are the seventh-ranked team in Tests, sixth in ODIs and No 1 in T20Is. It will be interesting to see whether he is retained as captain in the limited-overs or not.